Hierarchy (2024)

Hierarchically Challenged: A Series Best Watched While Multitasking

I wasn't planning to watch "Hierarchy," but curiosity got the best of me after seeing all the negative reviews. Initially, I almost abandoned it midway through episode one due to the silly and clingy dialogues. However, I decided to give it another shot while multitasking.

Unfortunately, "Hierarchy" is plagued by several issues:

* Poor acting
* Lack of chemistry between the leads
* Weak scriptwriting: the villains aren't menacing, the mean girls aren't mean, the romance is lukewarm, and the kiss scenes lack passion
* The story lacks a climax, with everything resolving abruptly

Given my low expectations, I wasn't too disappointed, but "Hierarchy" certainly didn't win me over either. If you're looking for a gripping, well-crafted series, this isn't it. However, if you need something to have on in the background while doing other tasks, it might fit the bill. Overall, I wouldn't recommend it unless you're as curious as I was. Be warned, though: you'll need to switch off your brain, as the dialogues and actions of both the kids and adults are often illogical.

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Did they release the first draft?!

In all honesty, it’s the worst drama I’ve ever seen.
Nothing really works, it looks like they released the series based on a first loose draft.
The budget was clearly high, but it was thrown away.

The characters are so superficial, there’s nothing to them. Some of them are poor, some of them are rich, some are evil, everyone is miserable, that’s it.
The actors are clearly struggling, their acting is robotic cause the dialogues are so lame and dull they couldn’t do much to make it better. They did their best though.
All this led to a lack of chemistry among the cast that I might’ve never seen, they’re literally NPCs.

Some cutscenes are so unnecessarily complex in a drama this basic that they’re involuntarily comic (the hacking scene for example), other ones are shot like they’re meant to be epic but nothing happens before or after so there’s no pathos at all.

There also are some plot holes.
The whole female lead character is built around her monstrous father (he is, not saying he’s not) and how she’s so scared for her life yet when she throws up on the heir she’s supposed to marry we don’t see any scenes with his father reacting to that or when she avoids going to America cause the guy was found guilty of drugs possession… You can’t built all of her story around the fact she fears her father the most and how cruel he is and not showing us his reactions to her actions/things that happens to her that would surely send him off.

The plot itself is so easy I understood everything from the beginning, despite the many incoherences. The whole Rian character is built to be ambiguous, is he really cruel or just a dumb rich guy? To build that ambiguity you have to create more depth to the character and as I said, the characters are just NPCs, so it doesn’t work.

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So "Hierarchy" isn't your typical high school drama, it's more like a peek into South Korea's fancy world. Imagine this big-shot school, Jooshin High, where only the super-rich and powerful kids get in. You've got Jae Yi from the Jaeyool Group, Ri An who's taking over Jooshin Group, He Ra from International Yoon, and Woo Jin, whose family is big in politics. They've got it all or so it seems. Then Kang Ha joins. His appealing and seemingly innocent smile hides a hidden agenda that will put everything where it's supposed to be.

The friendship between Jae Yi and He Ra is just not giving, if someone were truly your buddy, they wouldn't act in such a way.
Why didn't she go for Kang Ha? I mean, seriously, he's like the whole package. Tall, smart, handsome, cool, you name it. Plus, he's genuinely into her. But hey, I get it. Sometimes the heart wants what it wants and they've been together for so long.

Anyways, this drama is really my cup of tea

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Gorgeous to look at but that's it **SPOILERS**

Hierarchy sets out to be a riveting tale of murder, mystery, luxury, and of course, romance. Unfortunately, it falls flat in every single one of those categories. To put it simply, Hierarchy wishes to mirror the early seasons of the Spanish drama Elite. So much so that I found myself drawing parallels between the two at nearly every corner from set design to characters. Now I'm in no way saying that Elite is heaps and bounds better but I will say Elite took its time with characters and at least for the first few seasons had a plot line to follow (can't say anything past season 4 I stopped watching as it become boring and redundant).

The biggest issue that I found with this show was there was quite literally very little plot just gorgeous actors and gorgeous scenes but nothing of substance. The dialogues felt generic and insignificant and everything kind of felt pieced together. We didn't see characters develop.

The story primarily revolves around 5 characters: Kim Ri-an (the main rich boy), Jung Jae-i (main rich girl Ri-an's ex/gf), Kang Ha (the protagonist?, "revenge" seeking boy), Yoon He-ra (Regina George, Jae-i bff?), Lee Woo-jin (confused very gorgeous, relatively insignificant boy, nice to look at). The main story pretty much only involves the first 3 with the last 2 kind of being there.

Character breakdown:
Essentially Kang Ha makes his way into this hyper-elitist high school as a scholarship kid in order to find justice for his dead twin brother while facing the discrimination of his peers. So to make a long story short he doesn't really do this. Instead, he falls in love with Jung Jae-i and cries. Sure he reported people to the cops and held people "accountable" but honestly this plot line, which is supposed to be the main plot imo, takes a back seat and we get a classic romance where Kang Ha plays the second lead to Ri-an. This would be fine if I cared about the characters. The problem with this whole show is I have no sympathy or affection for any of these characters. The whole cast could have faced a zombie apocalypse and passed away and my reaction would have been welp. Especially Kang Ha. He is the one I am supposed to be rooting for but I don't care enough for him. In fact he frustrated me the most. He repeatedly claims that these people killed his brother but does so little to portray that. There's a scene where Jae-i claims to have killed Kang Ha's brother and by the next scene, Kang Ha is still expressing his love for her. It just doesn't make sense for his character. You play the voice of reason, justice, yet people you like get a pass? Also, there is one scene where he essentially says "Jae-i, you're not like the other people here, you're nicer so I can't hurt you." I'm glad you feel this way but bro why? Because she shows you basic human decency that you could get anywhere else outside of this school? How do you know she actually treated your brother nice huh? Seems to me Kang Ha's ideology mirrors the school's, the same ideology he's been desperately trying to destroy this whole time: people you like or have an affiliation with will get a pass.

Jae-i is so boring she has so much happen to her but not a single reaction she is like a doll with one reaction. All she says is that she wants to protect Ri-an but why? Sure you find comfort in each other but I'm failing to understand why she couldn't have told Ri-an about her pregnancy. Like ya'll are billionaires figure it out. Not to mention earlier in the show it seemed that both families were happy about the potential merging of Ri-an and Jae-i's families. What motivation does Jae-I have to sacrifice herself? What is she protecting him from because his mother seems relatively submissive as long as Ri-an portrays a clean image? Also, I don't like how Jae-i is supposed to be the hand that saves the plebians. All she did was talk to Kang Ha's brother and after seeing him pass decided to help Kang Ha out of guilt. She is not different. She had years to treat the scholarship kids like people. She just feels guilty and is trying to ease that guilt. No better than Ri-an or the rest of the elitists imo.

He-ra was my favorite character. She actually had depth and reasoning to her character. Her motivations were clear and the actions she took made sense. For example, she went after Ri-an romantically not because she hated her friend but because she had to secure her father's business and supplement her inferiority complex. She is also the only one we see develop as a character as she goes from only valuing herself through wealth to eventually understanding the weight of her friendships. Also, the actress for He-ra had the best performance imo.

Woo-Jin was simply there to introduce the killer teacher (the one who actually killed Kang Ha's brother) and serve looks. His whole schtick is that he loves He-ra and can't tell her because He-ra is preoccupied with securing the bag and confessing to Ri-an. Honestly, I was more invested in He-ra and Woo-jin and sympathized with them much more than the other three characters because they felt human and had the potential to grow. The others stayed stagnant.

Overall the plot is predictable, the characters are generic, and the show moves extremely slowly even for only having 7 episodes as opposed to the typical 16. It's something that should be played in the background while you are doing something else. A decent watch to pass the time.

Questions:
Why was Kang Ha's brother recording stuff in the first place?


Things I liked:
-Set design/cinematography: very nice to look and and the shots were unique and fun to look at
-Cast: all are extremely gorgeous, doesn't have much to do with anything but they were gorgeous that's it. I also think they did a pretty decent job for what they were given acting-wise. Especially the Ji Hye-won (He-ra)
-Music: the title song was a bop, will be adding it to my playlist
-Fashion: the outfits were so cute omggg, love the elegant yet classy vibe
-Kim woo-Jin

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this drama was iffy

The start of the drama was amazing if felt like the director put time and effort into the first couple episodes however I felt the ending of the whole thing was rushed and they just didn’t have any idea what to do

I hated Ri-an in this drama so much I felt like his character wasn’t it and just wanted Jae-I. I feel like Kang Ha and Jae-I are a better match idk why I just love the rich and poor duo a bit to much …lol.

I’m guessing Jae-I went to her birth mother at the end and I thought that was cute because earlier in the drama she want to go to quite place and guessing it was her mum. Jae-I dad got on my nerves and her brother , like why flim her and treat her like she a nothing to you, Her dad holy he was so annoying like how can to talk Abt your daughter and her birth mum like that. I just want to slap some common sense in him.

i love how they director showed that Kang Ha and Kang in Han like I didn’t even know they were brothers especially fertile twins like wow.

overall this drama could have been better If there is a s2 will defo watch it

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The hype was all for nothing

Expectations were low because of past experiences with overhyped dramas, but I still ended up being disappointed. Started out extremely good then everything went downhill after episode 3. For the most part the cast didn't have any chemistry. The Bullies punishment wasn't served well, it was a slap on the wrist at best. The plot twist were bland/underwhelming. Focused way too much on romance and not enough revenge.

It's a shame because I'm a big fan of the main cast, but the drama was too flashy that it ended up being boring. It completely lacked suspense and excitement. Unless you have absolutely nothing to watch, save your time and skip this one.

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[Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Romance, Youth], And I Didn't Find Any Of Them In The Series.

Despite Having Such A Good Budget, Promising Actors, And Pretty Decent Plot, This Series Remained An Average And Time Pass Series.
The Primary Genre [THRILLER] There Is No Thrill In The Series After The Second Episode, The Main Plot Suddenly Disappeared And Came Back In The Final Episode.
The Secondary Genre [MYSTERY] And I Still Didn't Find Out What Is Mysterious Here, Everyone In The School Knows Who Is There For Revenge And FL Also Knows Who Is Threatening Her With Videos.
The Third Genre [ROMANCE] Is There Any Romance They Are Just Using Eachother for Their Profit Or Casually Having Intimacy As Their Tool Of Pleasure.
The Last But Not The Least [YOUTH] It Is A Youth Drama But Everyone Here Are Acting Like An Middle Aged Person That They Are Holding Some Influence Of Their Own, And The Point Where They Want To Handle Situations With Maturity They Are Acting Like 8 Graders, Like You Hit Me I Hit You Too...

And The Character Who Has Most Of The Screentime Kang ha, He Took Admission In Jooshin To Fight Against The Bullies And After Sometime For The Inequality Of Jooshin System, But The Bullies Are Still in The School And The System Is Still The Same The Scholarship Students Still Can't Do Anything...

SOME POSTIVES POINTS OF HIERARCHY.
1. The Production Quality Is Just Amazing. Set Designing Is Good And Quality Looks Very Premium As They Mentioned Jooshin High School As The Prestigious School In Korea.
2. All Actor Are Good And Did Their Job Pretty Well, But The Two Male Leads Lee Chae Min And Kim Jae Won Carried The Whole Show.
3. The Best And The Coolest Thing Of The Series Is Its Camera Work And Sound Design. DOP And The Sound Director Did An Fabulous Job..

Overall It Is An Average Series But If The Post Credit Scene Indicating The Chances Of Part 2.
And, Is The Student Died In Class Is Killed By Kang Ha? Is He Out For Blood And Revenge?
If That's The Case Then Its Pretty Decent Prequel.

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Is all I can say

All that for just a teacher accidentally hitting a kid
I mean it has potential.... That's something can't seem to deny ... The production Quite fancy
And how the heck they're in highschool and facing this kind of things
And how is the female lead.. I mean why would you protect someone who's has a power to do so... A if he's kind of a damsel in distress.. and why would you ask for help to someone who is ....
Actually I waited for this series, like I even scheduled it to my calendar because I've seen there's something to watch in it...
You know if there's season 2 ... I hope it would be well written... And the acting... Should be well expression
They can't just be... You know what I mean .

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Revenge is a dish served with a dumb romance plot

This show wanted to be like Revenge of Others and it couldn’t meet that standard.

The “revenge” dies halfway through the story because he “fell in love” with Jae-i, who happens to be involved with his brother’s death. But no! Let’s get distracted from our revenge plot for this girl AND feel bad for her and her friends.

Boo-hoo, womp womp, no one cares.

Nothing irritated me more than the bullies getting away with everything, the school still standing, and her being like “I did like you but I want my psycho boyfriend who bullied your brother to his death.”

None of these characters are likable and have such shallow depth with no character development. The only satisfying part was the teacher being arrested (which was barely satisfying).

I don’t know what they were thinking when writing this but it’s terrible. The cast and set couldn’t even save this bad writing. Why’re you trying to make me feel bad for these stupid rich kids?

Like I get the miscarriage, the emotional abuse, and the manipulation they went through but the writing is so shallow I couldn’t care about them. Penthouse had me caring for the bullies because they wrote them in a complex manner to care about them and understand why they were bullies.

Kang Ha sitting with He-ra at the end boiled me to the core like do you have no care in the world about your brother?

Chan-mi did it better and got the boyfriend but she stood on her business!

What a waste of my seven hours. I had to put it in 1.5x speed to hurry up that nonsense.

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Great cast, stunning sets, but poor character development.

Overall, I would rate this show a 6/10. The cast was great (especially hyewon ❤️), and the budget clearly paid off with impressive sets and props. However, it was funny how the school was so dark, as if electricity didn't exist ? I understand they wanted to portray it as a dystopian place like Rian's home, which was also very dark, but it seemed silly to me. How could they even see what they're reading with such dim lights? Additionally, the repeated scenes of Jaei and Rian walking their dog on the beach felt excessive.

Now, for the three main characters:

Kang Ha: What the actual hell ? He was supposed to be a smart kid, but nothing in the show proved it. He contributed nothing to the revenge plot because it was all the principal's son's doing. During his whole stay in Jooshin, he didn't even manage to gather any evidence on his own. It seemed like he forgot about everything the moment he fell in love with Jaei. I don't even understand how and why he fell for her when it is obvious that Jaei contributed to the death of his brother. He was all talk, no action. Also, how did he instantly figure out that the blackmailer was the principal's son when he couldn't even find evidence against the bullies and about his brother's death? That part was so unrealistic. It also annoyed me when he told the principal's son that they should just call out the wrongdoings in Jooshin and not expose the bullies. His brother literally died because of them and he went to Jooshin for revenge. Why was he acting righteous all of a sudden?

Jaei: I didn't know she was Hera's best friend until she said it. The way she bossed Hera around is not how you treat your best friend. I hated the part in episode 6 where she said, "The things I didn't know because no one told me, like what I was doing wrong. I wish I would've known sooner," because why would anyone need to tell you that ignoring bullying is bad? ? She was even the top student, so she can't be dumb. Also, Inhan was apparently her friend, and she could've saved him if she had just told Rian to stop bullying him. It was really shameless of her to ask Kang Ha to not expose Rian, saying he's not bad and all. I was also confused when she told Kang Ha that what she said about her not having feelings for him at some point was a lie because I remember her telling Woojin that there was no time she lost feelings for Rian. Does that mean at some point she had feelings for both Rian and Kang Ha? ?

Rian: He has to be the most shallow character of all. He instigated Inhan's bullying just because Inhan became Jaei's friend? ? I don't even understand the reasoning behind it. After Inhan's death, he didn't show any remorse and just did the same to Kang Ha, except this time, Kang Ha repeatedly provoked him. In episode 6, if I recall correctly, he even got upset when Jaei told him to apologize to Kang Ha for taking part in the bullying and Inhan's death, saying that she was ruining their nice dinner. Like, okay, you took part in a person's death, but let's not ruin your dinner with Jaei because that's bad! When he finally said he would apologize, he just did it so Jaei wouldn't go to New York. He never really saw the need to apologize for taking part in someone's death. Even in the last episode, while apologizing to Kang Ha for everything he did, he still said he wasn't directly responsible for Inhan's death. Like, wow, what a sincere apology!

The revenge plot, if you can even call it "revenge," was so unsatisfying. I would definitely not rewatch it ? The ost wasn't very remarkable because it was just used every start and end of the episode, so I can't really say much about it.

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Flavorless

It had potential start, but came crashing down so fast. Felt like the whole series something was about to happen but at the end nothign really happened.
Story wasnt written well, and it's like 10 different western teen shows combined, but also it's giving nothing.
Jae-i's actress had very blunt and bad acting, chemistry wasnt there with literally anyone.
Honestly it felt like he-ra's actress was the only one who knew how to act and suited her character.

Only words to describe the show is flavorless and tasteless.

Well the music and cinematography was good, but couldnt save the show.

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